The Stork Job
The Leverage crew goes after a Serbian adoption agency that's scamming money from desperate American couples looking to adopt needy war orphans. To entrap the ringleaders Irina Larenko and Nicolas Obrovic and rescue the children, the team must hijack the local production of an independent horror movie. The Clients * Joe and Dana Morton, a couple attempting to adopt Luka Vladlic, a Serbian child. The Marks * Irina Larenko, a former Russian model turned European grifter once associated with Russian mobster. Her current scam is a variant on the The Spanish Prisoner scam. * Nicolas Obrovic, links to smuggling and organized crime. He is in charge of a government agency that takes in war orphans and is supposed to try to reconnect them with their families. The Con Eliot and Parker attend a party at the American Embassy in Belgrade to check out the mark Irina. Nate and Sophie have to stay with Hardison across the street, as Sophie once grifted the ambassador and he would recognize her. Nicolas Obrovic is discovered to be Irina's accomplice, he runs the orphanages and is the source for the orphans that Irina shows to her victims. Parker tries to chat with him but his disregard of the value of orphans strikes a chord in her and she stabs him with a fork before leaping out the window. Eliot chats up Irina and with advice from Sophie performs some basic Neuro-Linguistic Programming to help associate him with good feelings in Irina, Nate worries that Sophie has been manipulating him. Eliot pretends to be a producer and having difficulty finding someone to play the part of a mother. Irina agrees wholeheartedly. The team then hijack a movie set, they send the director off to direct "The Hills Have Eyes 6" and empty the producer's bank account. Sophie writes a script and gives herself a death scene which to most of the team's surprise she acts brilliantly, as it is an act. Irina arrives to do her part but the team tell her that her scene will have to be cut as the boy they had to play her son went missing. Irina says she can get a replacement. Parker and Hardison follow Irina to the "orphanage", Obrovic is using the building to keep his gunrunning activities secret. Hardison wants to help the orphans but no-one else in the team agrees, they say it is too risky and they will come back for them. Irina performs her scene, putting Luka into a cupboard and then 'dying', after a moment she wants to redo it but the Leverage team has disappeared, with Luka. They take Luka to Dana and Joe so they can adopt him. They are about to leave but Parker has left, changing her mind and deciding to help the children at the orphanage. Obrovic and his people are performing their weapons deal as Parker tries to get the kids out. Obrovic catches Parker but the team has arrived Sophie helping with the kids and Eliot takes out the guards to make the escape easier. They manage to get the kids into the prop truck but Obrovic's men fire on them when they stop. The reveal Nate and Eliot switched out the guns with the prop guns from the film. Hardison uses the equipment to blow up the building. Obrovic is in trouble with the people he was selling the guns to and Irina is framed for stealing the producer's money and arrested. Aliases * Hardison (Parker): Parker speaks to Hardison on the earbuds too close to Obrovic and he assumes this is her name. * Princess Magda of Slovenia (Sophie): This was Sophie's alias when she scammed the American Ambassador to Serbia. Episode Notes *The movie supposedly being filmed is about NATO troops fighting werewolves, which may be a reference to the British film, Dog Soldiers. Trivia * This was the first episode where the Leverage team works outside of the United States. * Hardison is seen drinking Orangesco instead of his usual orange soda. Production Video Category:Episodes Category:Season 1